Topic: Honorary Ladyscout of the Week

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Lily Allen

For the last few weeks, we have been praising the enviable accomplishments of women at the tip-top of their fields, women who are determined and focused and who we have no problem pointing to as role models. That is so great! However: that was not all that LadyScouts set out to do. This week, we honor the kind of wonderful disaster that we recognize: a twenty-something lovable lush with an attitude problem and ambivalent outlook about her career path. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Dr. Sally Ride

Dr. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space and when you read her name you probably get “Mustang Sally” stuck in your head, which is pretty great. In 1983, Dr. Ride boarded the Challenger for its second mission. Once out of the earth’s atmosphere, she and the rest of the crew deployed satellites, conducted experiments and (in non-official NASA terminology) played with a giant robot arm. GIANT ROBOT ARM! More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Dara Torres

Oftentimes we LadyScouts are concerned about the viability of “having it all.” “But I want to have it all,” we say, “give me it all! All of it! It! All!” And all too often we are told by “society” and “the man” and “articles” in “women’s magazines” that we can’t have it all, we can only have it some. Some? Eff that. Enter swimmer Dara Torres. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Tilda Swinton

There are a lot of actresses who are known for their range, but Tilda Swinton’s career has spanned more than film and theater, more than commercial and artistic, more than female and male. In every aspect of her art, Swinton is unapologetically intense and purposeful. She has played every kind of character, from a young nobleman in Orlando to the picture of feminine Italian elegance in I Am Love. She has appeared in Christian fables for children and comic book adaptations, Coen Brothers-helmed romps and Oscar-winning Hollywood thrillers, all while maintaining the utmost respect from her artistic peers. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor is a Supreme Court Justice partially because she loved Nancy Drew. Obviously this isn’t the entire reason, but it’s a pretty wonderful part of a reason. As a child, Sotomayor read the girl detective series and knew she wanted to solve mysteries. Unfortunately, because of her diabetes, she was instructed to try a less strenuous path. By ten she knew that she wanted to be an attorney, like Perry Mason. Sotomayor’s inspirations are an inspiration to Scouts everywhere. From a remarkably young age, with an innate sense of justice, Sonia Sotomayor identified the kind of person she wanted to be and became it. She became the hell out of it. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Neko Case

It may be a misnomer to call Neko Case a LadyScout. It’s not that she doesn’t uphold the ideals: she’s fantastic and talented and smart and fully grown. We’re just a little concerned about the “lady” part. Neko has been an animal (although you’re an animal too), a man-man-man man-man-maneater, and a tornado, amongst other things, and she has hopes of being the moon tonight, so we don’t want to hem her in. Of course, what these masterful metaphors do is articulate uniquely feminine desire so perfectly that it feels like she synthesized your high school diary into something beautiful. She’s messy and all-encompassing and feral and dangerous. So, yeah, I guess she’s a lady through and through. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith was only 25 when her first novel, White Teeth, was published. It seems that this is sort of the Number One Fact about Zadie Smith, as it were, especially for Writing About Zadie Smith. At the New Yorker festival this past fall, Smith was questioned about what it was like to become such a remarkable success at such an incredibly young age. Her response was classically Zadie: It wasn’t that unusual at all, she said, and then she proceeded to list a host of names who had achieved similarly early and lasting success — among them John Updike, Martin Amis, and the rest of the foundation of modern Western literature. And she’s right — for a talent of her caliber, she is just right on track. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Meryl Streep

The ultimate dream of any young LadyScout is simple: grow up to be Meryl Streep. The goal may not be as plainly stated as that, but when most women add up their aspirations (to have grace and dignity, to maintain a sense of fun, to look unbelievable all the time, to be massively successful, to be massively respected, to be massively adored), they add up to Meryl. More »

Honorary LadyScout of the Week: Nicki Minaj

The popular Tumblr blog LadyScouts salutes women for being strong, independent, and generally kick-ass. They award badges for everything from fixing stuff in your apartment to helping a friend through a breakup to earning your own paycheck. The brains behind LadyScouts will be writing once a week for TheGloss to celebrate a woman whose awesomeness has made her worthy of praise and sisterly respect. More »